Boston, MA - June 30, 2005 -- Strategy Analytics, the global research and consulting company, today released, "Automotive Semiconductor Vendor Market Shares in 2004." This report from the Strategy Analytics Automotive Electronics Service noted that global semiconductor billings to the automotive sector grew by 16% to $15.1 billion in CY2004, and that STMicroelectronics posted the highest growth amongst the top 5 vendors.

Automotive semiconductor vendor revenues grew strongly by 16% in CY2004, over 2003, to $15.1 billion according to this Strategy Analytics analysis. Excluding sales to ICE applications, revenues grew by 15% to $12.4B. The top five automotive semiconductor vendors in 2004 were Freescale Semiconductor (12% share), Infineon (9%), STMicroelectronics (8%), Renesas (7%) and NEC (6%).

"The top vendors are pretty well entrenched in the automotive market, so gaining market share requires both innovation and dedication," says Chris Webber, Vice President for Strategy Analytics' Automotive Practice. "Our analysis of 2004 revenues shows that Freescale continues to dominate the automotive sector but is under a lot of competitive pressure. Also, NEC entered the top 5 ranking in 2004, moving ahead of Bosch and Toshiba. Of the top 5 vendors, STMicroelectronics turned in the highest year-on-year revenue growth 25%."

The report provides detailed automotive billings by region and device for 21 vendors.